NBC’s $12billion deal to cover the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang may not see the profits the network hopes for, as the games are rated the worst ever in NBC viewership history.
This year’s Winter Games in South Korea saw the number of views decline by 24 per cent compared to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, within the 18 to 49 years demographic.
The slump in views may have burned a hole in NBC’s wallet after the network invested $12billion to cover the cream-of-the-crop competition, but had to offer free ad time to advertisers when it failed to reach the promised number of viewers.
Today Show anchors covering the games for the NBC which spent $12billion for the Olympic airing rights through to 2032, but decline in viewership may not yield consistent profits
Lestor Holt reports for NBC above for the 2018 Olympic Games that has experienced a decline in viewership from previous years
The 2018 games have lost millions of viewers, a total of 24 per cent compared to the 2014 event, because NBC was forced to reportedly offer free ad time when promised viewer numbers weren’t met
Although sports viewership has declined in the past two years, in 2012 for the London games the number of eyes following the Olympics peaked, with an average of 31.1million tuning in, according to CNN Money.
But hopes for a rise in Olympic viewership have been crushed as even the games’ Opening Ceremony failed to entice enough viewers to watch the dazzling display, yielding an 8.6 per cent decrease in viewers from the last Opening Ceremony in 2014.
NBC notes, however, that viewership for the Olympics is down only 15 percent compared to the aforementioned 24 when including viewers from both NBC and NBC Sports Network also airing coverage of the games.
NBC channels counted 21.9million prime time viewers this year, a dip compared to the 23.7million viewers who watched the Sochi 2014 Games.
The low turn out rate in views is costing the network, forcing NBC to reportedly issue free ad time when initial ads failed to reach the agreed amount of viewers.
Now eyes are pointed towards NBC’s profitability in light of viewership decline.
NBC has invested $12billion to cover the games in a deal that will last until 2032
The decline in viewership may be due to Team USA’s nation’s fourth place ranking in overall medals count
Sean White bites gold for his snowboarding event at this year’s Pyeongchang Olympics
Viewership for the games has been consistently declining since the greatest profit in broadcasting the games was in Rio in 2016
In 2016 for the Rio Games NBC made a profit of $250million – a record for Olympic coverage.
The Summer Olympic Games tend to be more popular than the Winter counterparts, however that didn’t stop the 2016 Rio Olympics from seeing a decline in viewership as well.
NBC says it expects to make a profit off the games yet again in Pyeongchang, just as it has with the last three Olympic Games.
The network said that its national ad sales were actually up to $920million compared to the last Olympics where it sat at $800million.
Comcast Chairman and CEO Bian Roberts (Comcast owns NBC), said that he would ‘absolutely’ renew the NBC Olympics contract.
‘Absolutely every time we come to the Olympics we’re reminded of just how important this is to the media landscape,’ he said in an interview with CNBC.
Mark Lazarus, NBC Broadcasting and Sports Chairman said the Olympic rights is the best deal in all of media.
‘Our long-term Olympic rights agreement is the best in all of media. The Olympics have demonstrated the ability to assemble massive and diverse audiences on everything from broadcast television to Snapchat, and are uniquely suited to thrive in today’s expanding media landscape,’ he said.
‘We are very bullish on our investment,’ he added.
Although NBC is keen to continue their pricey Olympics deal, it is unclear if the Games will lead to a massive profit in the years to come.
NBC covered the Opening Ceremony which is usually a hit in drawing peak number of views, but drew 8.6 per cent less viewers than the last opening ceremony in 2014
NBC broadcasted Olympics coverage from two channels to reach maximum viewers
Fireworks dazzled at the Opening Ceremony covered by NBC, with the hopes of a profitable turnout
As viewership numbers bounce from TV screens to online streams, the Pyeongchang Olympics have resulted in the number of live-streamed content double from the Sochi Games – jumping to 13.9million views from 6.3million.
Prime-time viewing saw an eight per cent drop from the numbers four years ago, according to CNN Money.
Whether the reason for decline is due to waning interest or America’s fourth place ranking in the medal count, NBC is hopeful to see the lucrative numbers will surpass Sochi’s profit of $53million as reported by Reuters.
The profits often pale in comparison to the multi-millions invested in the games.
NBC reportedly spent $775million to acquire the rights to the 2014 games and invested $875million.
Another factor that may contribute to low numbers of American views is the loss of NHL viewers.
This year NHL athletes were not allowed to compete in the Olympics, meaning NBC lost the following die-hard fan viewers.
Whether there’s a profit or not, NBC owns the media rights to the Olympics until 2032.